The Ghost Ship | Page 5

Old Greazer then mounted the bridge-ladder, in advance of me, with
the binnacle lamp in his hand to put that in its place, and, as I followed
slowly in his slow footsteps, for the ex-fireman was not now quick of
movement, an accident in the stoke-hold having crippled him years ago,
I half-turned round as I ascended the laddering to have a look again at
the horizon to leeward over our port quarters, when I fancied, when
advancing a foot with the lamp-trimmer, I had seen something to the
southward.
In another instant my fancy became a certainty.
Yes, there, in the distance, sailing at an angle to our course, right before
the wind, was a large full-rigged ship. Everything, though, was not
right with her, as I noted the moment I made her out, with her white
canvas all crimson from a last expiring gleam of the afterglow; for I
could see that her sails were tattered and torn, with the ragged ends
blowing out loose from the boltropes in the most untidy fashion,
unkempt, uncared for!
Besides, she was flying a signal of distress, patent to every sailor that
has ever crossed the seas.
Her flag was hoisted half-mast high from the peak halliards. Half-mast
high!
I did not wait, nor did I want, to see anything further. No, that was
enough for me; and, springing on to the bridge with a bound that nearly
knocked poor old Greazer down on his marrowbones as he stopped to
put the lantern into the binnacle, I shouted out in a ringing voice that
echoed fore and aft, startling everybody aboard, even myself, "Sail ho!
A ship in distress! Sail ho!"
CHAPTER THREE.

DID I DREAM IT?
"Where away, Haldane?" cried Mr Fosset, the first to notice my shout,
catching up a telescope that lay handy on the top of the wheel-house of
the bridge; and, in his hurry, eagerly scanning every portion of the
horizon but the right one. "I don't see her!"
"There she is, sir, away to the right!" said I, equally flurried, pointing
over the lee rail in the direction where I had observed the ship only a
second before as I mounted the bridge-ladder, although I could not
actually make her out distinctly at the moment now, on account of the
smoke from our funnels, which, just then, came belching forth in a
thick, black cloud that streamed away to leeward, athwart our starboard
beam, obscuring the outlook.
"There away, sir; out there!"
"Well, I can't see anything!" ejaculated Mr Fosset impatiently, rising to
his feet after stooping down to the level of the bridge cloth, trying to
get a sight of the strange vessel as best he could under the cloud of
smoke, which was now trailing out along the horizon, blown far away
to leeward by the strong wind across our beam. "I'm sure I can't see
anything over there, youngster; you must have dreamt it!"
"Yes, when you were lolling about in the waist below there, just now,"
put in my friend, Master Spokeshave, who had been pretending to
look-out from his end of the bridge because he thought he ought to do
so as Mr Fosset was there, although he really couldn't possibly see
anything aft from that position on the port side, on account of the
wheel-house and funnel, which were of course abaft the bridge,
blocking the view. The cantankerous little beggar sniffed his beak of a
nose in the air as if trying to look down on me, though he was half a
head shorter, and spoke in that nasty sneering way of his that always
made me mad. He did enjoy growling at any one when he had the
chance; and so he went on snarling now, like a cat behind an area
railing at a dog which couldn't get at it to stop its venomous spitting. "I
saw you, my joker, star-gazing down there, instead of coming up here
to relieve me at the proper time! I believe you only sang out about the

ship to cover your laziness and take a rise out of us!"
"I did nothing of the sort, Mr Spokeshave," I answered indignantly, for
the little beast sniggered away and grinned at Mr Fosset as if he had
said something uncommonly smart at my expense. I saw, however,
where the shoe pinched. He was angry at my having kept him waiting
for his tea, and hence his spiteful allusion to my being late coming on
watch; so I was just going to give him a sharp rejoinder, referring to his
love for his little stomach, a weak point with him and a common joke
with us all below at meal-times, when, ere I could get a word out of the
scathing rebuke I intended for